Spring Travel, Part II: Paris, France

Following our trip to Spain (which we planned on relatively short notice), we had a few days in Rabat before hopping on a flight for our second out-of-country venture to Paris, France!

Background: Back in November, another Olmsted scholar suggested running the Paris Marathon. Someone in our household (and it wasn't K) said, "They are doing a discount on registrations - buy one, get $30 off the second. Let's sign up!" So here we are, five months later, heading to Paris to run a marathon we are not prepared for. Let's just clarify something...K was satisfied after Marathon #2. Then J said, "I'd like to run a marathon every so often to keep my fitness in check." And K said, "I'll be there to cheer you on." But, K enjoys competing way too much and now here we both are, prepping for Marathon #5 *sighs*. While we wanted to run a marathon overseas, we weren't quite prepared to start training yet. But, we had good intentions. Training was going well in January, and we nailed our "test" paces at the Marrakech Half Marathon. Then, K was sidelined for two weeks with a back injury (because someone loves Moroccan rugs and K hurt her back trying to move one around the house). Meanwhile, J's spring semester started and left him with enough time to squeeze in one, maybe two runs per week. Fast forward three months to April, add to that a couple more injuries and some food poisoning...and we've adjusted our goals to be "finish the race."

So, we find ourselves heading to France where we are excited to meet another Olmsted Scholar and his family (who are living in Germany), and get to spend some time catching up with J's best friend from college (who was also our wedding officiant, for those of you who remember). He is currently working in Ukraine, and met us in Paris for a little vacation. Oh, and PIZZA. What does pizza have to do with any of this? For one, carb loading. Duh. BUT, if you know us well, you know we love our Cerrone's Pizza in Columbus, GA. And we love our Pizza Monday tradition ("Monday's suck, Pizza doesn't"). We knew part of our experience abroad would include a quest for anything that could compete with Cerrone's. Well, spoiler: Morocco ain't got nothin' in terms of pizza (sorry Morocco - we love you, but not for your pizza). But, we are currently planning a Pizza Tour of Italy for the future. In the mean time, we bought a book titled, "Where to Eat Pizza", and figured we would use it to help us plan our travels ;) Sadly, there were no recommendations for Seville or Cordoba - BUT, there were plenty for Paris...and we were going to try some!

Back to the trip. We arrived in Paris on Thursday morning and easily navigated our way through public transport to our hotel, located in the 8th Arrondissement. We wanted to be close enough to the start/finish lines that we didn't have to think too hard about getting to and from the course on race morning. After checking into the hotel, we set out for lunch (and Pizza Stop #1). The first thing we learned...FOOD IS SO EXPENSIVE IN PARIS. Wow. Here we are, a pizza and two waters...50. In J's mind = 50 dirhams. Which equates to about $5, and is totally normal for lunch in Morocco. Except, we are in Paris...and 50 = 50 euro. Which is more like $50. OUCH. We had a little pep talk about our expectations, and decided we would enjoy what Paris had to offer and not pay too much attention to food prices. The pizza was definitely good, but not life-changing. A little too watery, and a little too much crust.

After picking up our packets from the Marathon Expo, we visited the Eiffel Tower, the Opera, and the Apple store (because J needed a new phone, Apple stores don't exist in Morocco, and Apple products that do exist are really expensive). We met up with J's friend at a fantastic, little Italian place close to our hotel, where we enjoyed some of the best food we've had since leaving the US.

The following day we wandered down the main stretch in Paris and stopped by the Place de Concord, the Louvre, and the Royal Palais, before heading across the river for lunch (and Pizza Stop #2), and an afternoon visit to the Musee d'Orsay. Pizza Stop #2 was knockout good - we would rank it right up there with Cerrone's. After our visit to the museum, we trekked back across the river to enjoy an Olmsted Family + Max dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by another scholar studying in Lyon, France. We enjoyed a wonderful evening getting to know everyone and sharing stories and experiences of our time overseas.

In an effort to save some energy for the race on Sunday, we didn't want to do too much on Saturday. We ventured out to the Museum of Natural History and the Botanical Gardens, which are located right next to the Grand Mosque of Paris and the Arab district of the city. For lunch, we tried something unique (and delicious) - souffles! We had tried to go to Le Souffle for dinner on Thursday, but couldn't get a reservation. So we stopped by for lunch, and it did not disappoint! Souffles for the appetizer, entree, and dessert...and they were massive! We had never had souffles before, but had always been wanting to try them. We left the restaurant brimming with mushy, souffle deliciousness, and a mild food coma.

Dinner the night before the race ended up being a bit of a disaster - J was getting some schoolwork done, so we were relaxing in the hotel room in our jammies when we decided to order some pasta from a nearby restaurant and have it delivered to our hotel. Unfortunately, 45 minutes later, we were informed the restaurant "was not able to complete our order". We scrambled to get presentable for a restaurant, and by 9:30pm we were leaving the hotel to try and find something to eat. Luckily, there was ONE restaurant nearby that was still serving dinner and we were able to get some pesto gnocchi and a pizza to-go. Although we were a little annoyed by the whole mishap, we got a good chuckle out of this experience when the waiter asked us if we wanted bread...of course, we said yes. We watched him look for bread in the kitchen and when he couldn't find any, he casually went to a table where the customers had not eaten their bread, picked it up, and put it in a bag for us. And if you're wondering, YES, we still ate it :) But we can say that it was a first!

Sunday morning was RACE DAY! Listen, we won't bore you with anything here...we ran 26.2 miles and were still able to walk afterwards. Post-race we met up with our friends for burgers, beer, and milkshakes. The perfect replenishment after a marathon! After lunch, everyone parted ways (as we were all leaving Paris the following day). We returned to our hotel to clean up, then decided to try Pizza Stop #3 for dinner (which ended up being a little disappointing - our least favorite of the trip). We wrapped up our Sunday evening by heading to the Champs Elysees to determine who had the best macarons: Laduree or Pierre Hermes...approximately 16 macarons (EACH) later, we couldn't decide. They were all delicious.

The following day we slowly made our way back to the airport to return to Rabat. Upon landing, we saw the heartbreaking news that Notre Dame was on fire. We mayyyyyy not have visited it while we were in Paris...oops. In J's defense, he has seen it and said that the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca was more impressive. So, it didn't make the itinerary this time around. Another thing that didn't happen on this trip: picture-taking. We brought the camera everywhere, but it was f*%$ing freezing (yes, after being in Morocco for 8 months, 35-40 degrees feels like 0). So, sorry we don't have more pics from this trip...especially of the food. Next time, inch'allah.